Page 11 of The Demons of Wychwood
PARTNERS IN CRIME
“It’s this tome here,” I said on opening the bottom drawer of the plan chest in the library. “Give us a hand, its bloomin’ heavy.”
The architect for Wychwood had gotten the plans for this grand mansion house bound into an enormous book that contained drawings of every room and all of the tiny details. Together Lord Penhelligan and I hefted the book onto one of the library tables and after running his fingers up and down the spine and caressing the silver foiled title embossed on the green leather cover, Kit opened the book and gasped. It wasn’t the type of book that would be read nightly, by me anyways, but looking at how my new friend’s face lit up I wasn’t so sure about him!
“Mu…mu…My God! I’ve never seen a plan book this detailed,” Kit exclaimed in a delighted whisper. I didn’t know why he was whispering cos it was just me and him in this huge old mansion. Kit was standing at the table leaning over the book and seemed to be in awe as if he was looking at pages of the Bible that no other cove had ever seen. He reverently turned from the contents page to the first double-page drawing of the cellar of Wychwood.
“Here, you might need this,” I suggested, grabbing the brass magnifying glass from the closest bookshelf, removing it from its case, and handing it to him. Kit thanked me absently and leaned lower over the page, placing the tripod legs of the eyeglass on the page and his eye to the magnifier. He moved the device over the plan.
Strange electricity ran up my spine at knowing the pleasure I’d given this man by showing him a book. I stood back and leaned against a bookshelf, my arms folded as I observed the curve of his arse and the way the expensive fabric of his charcoal trousers clung to those muscled globes. His dark curls fell like the fronds of a willow tree, and I imagined what it would be like to be on my back, under him and curtained by those black ringlets—and how I would lean up to claim a hungry kiss from his pretty lips.
“This is remarkable!”
I was pulled from my filthy imaginings by Kit’s exclamation. I moved to his side to see he’d found the plan for the second floor with the bedrooms and the network of secret passages.
“This here linen closet is where I go in,” I explained as I pointed to the closet on the plan.
“I ain’t explored much cos I had a certain goal in mind, and I was just a little curious about goings-on,” I admitted feeling my cheeks burn with embarrassment. Kit didn’t seem to care that I had a taste for watching others fuck because he was like a man possessed, the magnifying glass moving swiftly to follow the passages.
“There are other entrance doors,” he said excitedly.
“There are?”
“Yes, here in the master’s suite–that’s now room ten, and here in the mistresses’ suite, room eleven.” They were the largest rooms at the far end of the house.
“Come, take a look,” Kit blindly reached, grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him. My whole body lit up like a firework when his fingers touched my skin. I don’t know whether he felt anything, cos he didn’t react, but my mouth was dry as the desert as I pressed to his side and leaned over the plan book to send my gaze where he directed. I was cheek-to-cheek with the man of my fantasies, inhaling his musky personal scent mingled with lemons. He moved the magnifier around the page showing me the extent of the passages and the symbols that identified the doorways. I guess I wasn’t as well-read as I thought, cos I didn’t know what those particular symbols meant.
“There are doors behind built-in closets between these rooms here which give access to the passages that lead to other bedrooms. In theory one could visit each room without stepping into the main hall,” Kit observed.
I hadn’t explored all of the passages, what with the entertainments I found in the rooms I encountered. And I’d grown far too fond of watching Kit for me to bother looking elsewhere after he was done.
“I’d suggest we find the doorway in room ten and explore from there, yes?”
“Right you are. But I do have a few chores left to do, and I need to let Mr. Joshua, Miss Georgette, and Mr. Hugo into the house when it’s time, so you’ll have to make yerself scarce.”
Kit straightened and looked me in the eyes. There was a commanding change to his countenance that I found very attractive. I’d hated watching him pour out his sorrow and hear about the vicious grip Napier had on him. The brute made Kit believe that his true and natural feelings were a demonic influence, and not simple human desire, or a need to be loved. The thought that Kit didn’t know men could truly love one another made the passion rise in me. I’d show him, oh yes, I would! I wanted to be by his side when he witnessed what I saw through the peepholes. I wanted to help him understand that none of what that brute had fed him was true .
“Very well. You go about your business. I’ll stay here for a while longer. When Mr. Joshua knocks on the door I’ll go upstairs to room ten, meet me there.”
“Yes, milord, that sounds like an excellent plan.”
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